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If those commercials for freecreditreport.com have ever sent you running to your computer to order the free annual report that the government says you are entitled to, back the truck up!  The reports may not be so free after all!

As a result of an FTC ruling in 2004, consumers are entitled to a free report from each from the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and Transunion – each year.  Since that time, numerous companies have emerged to supposedly offer the report.  FreeCreditReport.com which pulls in customers with amusing commercials, as well as others companies, offers a report but requires you to sign up for a service that may cost $15 or more per month.  This includes credit monitoring, potentially a good thing – as long you know what you are getting into.  This and other similar sites offer a small window for ordering your report and then being able to cancel without charge.  Though FreeCreditReport.com appears to be a reputable company, others may be scam sites that only want your personal information.

The site that offers the truly free reports is AnnualCreditReport.com.  Consumers can check all three bureaus at once or stagger the requests over the course of the year to see progress.  There is usually some variation among the three bureaus, so ordering from all three each year might be wise.  The only report guaranteed to be free with no strings attached is the official AnnualCreditReport.com site.

Once you go to AnnualCreditReport.com, you must choose which bureau you want the report from.  You are then sent to one of the three credit bureau site.  After entering some information, you have your report within minutes.  The free annual service includes the report only, not the score.  You can order your score for around $8 or sign up for the credit monitoring service.  The lack of a free credit score is an annoying shortcoming of the official site, but, nonetheless, obtaining the basic information without charge is valuable.

As of September 2010, so-called free sites must disclose that they are not offering the free service guaranteed by the FTC.

Questions?  Check out the FAQ’s at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Express Homebuyers buys homes for cash.  A simple call could yield you a $2,500 advance and a way out of housing debt in about two weeks.  Contact us today for all the details.

As anyone who has watched silly commercials about people with poor credit being doomed to drive hoopties or make their living in costume at a Renaissance fair knows, a bad credit score costs you! You may be denied the card you want, a gas card, a job, or an apartment plus embarrassment, with or without costume.

If your credit score is low and you want to buy a home, how much will those credit-card funded dinners and shoes of the past cost you?  The results are amazing.

According to Credit Technologies, who spoke at a recent National Association of Mortgage Brokers seminar, the difference between having a credit score over 720 vs. 620 is an interest rate of 5% versus one of 8.75%. As the chart shows, a differing interest rate on a 30 year mortgage can have a big impact on the payments for a $125,000 mortgage, including taxes.

If your household income is about $35,000 a year, a house with $125,000 mortgage might put your monthly cost for a house at about 25%, so a payment of $853.32 might be just about right.  If your credit rating is over 760, the payment would be right there.  The lower your credit score is, the higher your payment will be.  If your score is only 620, your payment would be $200 higher.  If is it 580, your payment will be nearly $300 higher.

Needless to say, the total amount paid for mortgages also increases with the combination of a low credit score and higher interest rates.  Most people do not think about that in our mobile society where people move about every seven years, but the $127,000 difference from the highest to the lowest rating is staggering.

The most obvious thing about these numbers is that a lower credit score can put an “affordable” home based on income, out of the range of affordability.  To keep the payment around $850 dollars per month if you have a 620 score, you could only afford a mortgage of $105,000.  If your rating was under 550, you could only afford a mortgage of $87,500.

Why is this?  Banks maintain that the chance of delinquency increases as the credit score decreases.  According to BCS Alliance, a person with a 780 score has 576 to 1 odds of becoming delinquent by 90 days; a 700 score has a 288 to one chance.  At 630, the odds are 17:1; after that the likelihood increases rapidly: 616 score, 9:1 odds, 600 score 4:1 odds, and 585 score 2:1 odds.

If your card score is low, you may have the best intentions in the world, but it will be a hard sell to find a reasonable mortgage rate.  This is why it is important to start getting your credit report in order before you start looking for a home.  If you have one that is costing you too much in interest and payments, this could be a good time to sell your home and get your credit straight before taking on home ownership again.

Express Homebuyers can help you by emptying your plate of a big portion of debt within two weeks.  We buy houses fast.  Contact us today for all the details.